LITTLE Italy farmers Carlo and Jenny Varone farewelled farming in style last week when a big crowd turned up to their clearing sale south-east of Hyden.
The sale was conducted by Westcoast Wool & Livestock and like their sheep dispersal sale held a couple of weeks ago, it didn’t disappoint with not only a great presentation of plant and machinery on offer but also a big crowd, with 165 registered bidders.
There was strong interest in the 287 lot sale reflected by a big turn-out from surrounding areas and further afield, including districts such as Morawa, Miling, Esperance and Kendenup.
This strong interest and excellent presentation of machinery and plant resulted in the sale grossing more than $1.84 million.
Commanding the highest price on the day at $310,000 was the last item offered by the Westcoast Wool & Livestock selling team led by auctioneer Chris Hartley.
The 2015 John Deere S680 header with a 640D Draper front attracted plenty of interest before finally being knocked down to a Newdegate buyer.
The header, which had been serviced yearly by Ag Implements, had recorded 1547 engine hours and 1264 rotor hours.
Just shy of the $300,000 mark was a John Deere 9560R tractor (2769 hours) when it sold at $290,000 to a Hyden buyer.
Two other John Deere tractors were sold in the sale – a John Deere 6420 model was knocked down at $40,000 while a John Deere 4850 tractor (8208hrs) made $30,000.
Also making a good price was a 2009 18 metre D-260 DBS precision seeder, which was sold as a package with a Simplicity 15,000 tow-behind air cart for $260,000 to a Hyden buyer.
The John Deere 4940 self-propelled boomsprayer with GreenStar GS3 was snapped up by a Cunderdin operation for $200,000.
The 36.4m unit was equipped with a 4700 litre tank and had only recorded 2800 hours.
A New Holland T8040 tractor (5007hrs) found a new home at Miling when it sold at $92,000 while the same buyer bid to $42,000 for a 1997 Howard Porter tri-axle grain trailer.
A Pingelly property became the new home for the Dunstan 26 tonne chaser bin when it sold at $87,500 and the Agrispread AS120 fertiliser spreader sold for $86,000 to a Kondinin operation.
Also commanding plenty of interest before selling at $58,000 was a Grain King 85t field bin while a Gebert 4 model seed cleaner stayed local when it sold at $40,000.
Also staying in Hyden was a Norrish 6m seed and super bin with a 60/40 split which sold for $30,500 and a Cole Engineering self-drive grain auger (250 millimetres x 15m) that made $22,000.
A Newdegate operation bid to $25,000 for a 1997 Freightliner prime mover with a 130t rating while a 10.9m tri-axle flat top trailer with two Fibre Furn water tanks (27,000L) sold for $32,000.
Other plant to make good money was a Wilkins stubble rake (16 wheel) at $13,500, while an engine-driven, self-contained Bale Buggy made $5500 and a Airman PDS905 air compressor on a trailer sold for $6500.
With a buoyant sheep and wool industry bids rolled in for a TPW MKII woolpress. before it was knocked down at $9600 while five Sunbeam Super Pro shearing heads all sold at $300.
Three Eze Feeder lick feeders offered, sold between $1100 and $1600.
There were a number of guidance systems offered including a John Deere GreenStar GS2 which made $4200, while a Topcon auto steer sold for $500 and two Rinex guidance systems sold at $800 and $700 respectively.
Westcoast Wool & Livestock Hyden agent and sale co-ordinator Lincoln Gangell said he was very happy with the way the sale panned out and the number of people who registered to buy on the day.
“Overall it was a very successful sale with almost a total clearance and sale gross of more than $1.8m,” Mr Gangell said.
“I would like to congratulate Carlo and his team for the way the clearing sale was set up and presented.
“He did an exceptional job which showed in the way things sold on the day.
“I would also like to wish Carlo, Jenny and family all the best for their future after farming and thank him for the opportunity to conduct their clearing sale.
“Also a big thank you must go to Chris Hartley and the administration team for their efforts to make the day run smoothly and also bidders and under bidders for attending the sale.”
